Police Arrest Perpetrators Of Counterfeiting Sultan Ground'scing Letter Claiming To Be Descendants Of Sultan HB

Suspect in the fraud and forgery of Sultan Ground's fishing letter, TPS aka KRT WD /ANTARA /HO-Polda DIY

YOGYAKARTA - The police arrested a man with the initials RM TPS alias KRT WD (60), a perpetrator of fraud and forgery of a fishing letter on land with the status of Sultan Ground or Sultanate Land in Gunungkidul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region (DIY).

Deputy Director of General Criminal Investigation of the DIYAKBP Police K. Tri Panungko explained that TPS, which is a resident of Kraton District, Yogyakarta City, had previously served a sentence in a similar case.

"The person concerned claims to be a descendant of Hamengku Buwono VII," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, October 16.

According to Panungko, the crime occurred in June 2023 in Kapanewon Tanjungsari, Gunungkidul Regency.

In its action, the TPS designated as a suspect is suspected of issuing a permit for utilization or confinement of Sultan Ground land without rights and without the knowledge of the Sultanate.

"Without the knowledge of the Sultanate, the Sultanate has issued a permit to use Sultan Ground's fishing on behalf of the reporter, in the form of an object of approximately 60 square meters of land," he said.

Fooled by the fake fishing letter, the victim who is also the reporter with the initials A (25), a resident of Klaten, Central Java, then used the land to build a three-story building that functions as a cafe and restaurant.

To convince the victim, said Panungko, TPS claimed to be a descendant of Sultan Hamengku Buwono VII and issued a fake fishing letter to withdraw payments from potential victims.

To strengthen his claim, the suspect showed a number of documents that seemed official. However, Panungko emphasized that all documents used by the suspect were not legally valid.

In the positive legal process, the DIY Police still refer to the property rights certificate (SHM) issued by the National Land Agency (BPN).

"In this case, the location that is now a dispute has been issued by the BPN on behalf of the Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat Sultanate," he said.

The suspect, continued Panungko, knew the location of Sultan Ground's vacant land by asking for information on tourism awareness groups (Pokdarwis) in the area.

In accordance with the provisions of the Specialty Law and the DIY Regional Regulation on Land Management of the Sultanate and the Kadipaten, the determination of the management and utilization of the Sultanate's land is only authorized by the Kawedanan Panitikismo Keraton Yogyakarta.

"Regarding the fishing letter made by the reported party, of course it is fake, so the victims make reports to us for us to follow up," he said.

He explained that the victim in the case had paid Rp10 million to the suspect for the issuance of fake fishing documents.

"According to this police report, the victim's loss has paid a trap of Rp. 10 million. However, the victim has also built buildings in that location of approximately Rp. 900 million because three floors have been built," he said.

The police also secured a number of evidences used by the suspect in the action, including a stamp bearing the rice and cotton crown logo with the words HB VII, a certificate from Patehan Village dated February 3, 2013, and a certificate of Dalem Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat's Blood Loss certificate dated January 7, 2023, on behalf of TPS aka KRT WD.

In addition, investigators also found a bundle of documents from the Sultanate's "RIJKSBLAD" in 1918, a photocopy of ownership certificates covering an area of 104,600 square meters on behalf of the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat dated August 16, 2017, and Magersari's fishing certificate dated June 6, 2023 signed by the suspect.

The last document contains a permit for utilization, management, and land placement of Sultan Ground or village treasury land in Hakii carrying on behalf of Gusti Raden Mas Moertedjo alias Sultan Hamengku Buwono VII located in Tanjungsari, Gunungkidul.

For his actions, the suspect was charged with Article 378 of the Criminal Code concerning fraud with a maximum imprisonment of four years, and/or Article 263 of the Criminal Code concerning letter forgery with a maximum imprisonment of six years.